Leclerc slays Giants

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The only thing missing was Al Michaels shouting: “Do you believe in
miracles? Yes!!”
Because what 4,546 fans witnessed Wednesday night at Interior Savings Centre
may have been the biggest miracle on ice since that night in 1980 in Lake
Placid, N.Y., when the U.S. beat the Soviet Union. Or least since Jan. 1, 2005.
In case you weren’t there last night, and thousands weren’t, goaltender
Justin Leclerc turned aside 58 shots — the Dutch boy would have pulled his
finger out of this dike and skated away — as the Kamloops Blazers
upset/shocked/surprised/stunned (pick one or all four) the Vancouver Giants,
3-1.
The visitors, who could have moved past the Calgary Hitmen and into first
place overall in the WHL with a victory, fired everything they had at
Leclerc. He stopped 23 shots in the first period, 19 more in the second and
16 in the third.
Vancouver players likely were icing their arms on the bus ride home.
Vancouver was credited with the game’s first nine shots — the Giants will
say they had 12 or 13 — before the Blazers managed to get a puck on
goaltender Tyson Sexsmith. That shot, from centre C.J. Stretch off the left
wing eight minutes in, drew a Bronx cheer from the crowd.
That crowd later sent that Blazers off with a standing ovation following the
second period. At that point, the Blazers, who were being outshot 42-11, led
3-0 lead, thanks to a pair of power-play goals — from Shayne Wiebe and Tyler
Shattock — and a 3-on-3 score from Wiebe, his 31st this season.
That same crowd rose in another ovation at game’s end. And it stood and
roared again as Leclerc was named the game’s first star.
To paraphrase that old right winger, Winston Churchill: Never have so many
owed so much to one man.
“We played well, start to finish,” said Vancouver head coach Don Hay.
“(Leclerc) was pretty good. He did his job.”
Which is like saying Posh did her job on her last shopping trip.
“We thought the last couple of times we played them we let them off the hook
on simple things, like not being extra hard on pucks,” Kamloops head coach
Barry Smith said. “Tonight, we were. We were extra hard on them and we found
a way to keep pucks out of our net and obviously Justin was outstanding.
“He was the difference.”
This being B.C., the land of the Canucks, you expected the crowd to break
out into chants of “Loo-ie! Loo-ie!” As the third period wore on, the fans,
however, were content to cheer each save Leclerc made.
By the time he gave up a goal, to Vancouver sniper Evander Kane at 14:37 of
the third period, Leclerc’s side had a 3-0 lead.
“I felt good but I just took it shot by shot,” said Leclerc, who won his
29th game but was once again denied in a bid for his first shutout with the
Blazers. “Never at any point did I feel incredible or beyond what I’ve
played before. I just made fewer mistakes.”
Leclerc, who was acquired from the Lethbridge Hurricanes prior to the
2007-08 season, was making his 107th start — and his 54th this season — in a
Kamloops uniform.
“We gave up too many chances but Justin was real good,” Smith said.
Leclerc was quick to credit teammates for helping clear loose pucks as the
Giants, while they had a lot of shots, didn’t get many second chances.
“My rebound control was good,” Leclerc said, “but we also cleared the pucks
pretty well.”
Sexsmith, who has 39 victories, stopped 13 shots.
Leclerc’s performance brought back memories of Jan. 1, 2005, when the
Blazers, with goaltender Devan Dubnyk stopping 64 shots, beat the visiting
Kelowna Rockets, 4-2.
Al Michaels wasn’t here that night, either.
JUST NOTES: The Giants also were denied a place in the record book. They
have 27 road victories this season and the WHL record is 28. . . . Each team
somehow ended up with 13 minors. . . . Smith talked with referee Colby
Smith, no relation, after the first period about a slashing penalty to Kane.
Smith, the coach, felt Kane had speared Kamloops D Kurt Torbohm.